1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reactor for reforming a liquid fuel, specifically to a reactor for generating hydrogen to be supplied to a fuel cell, and also related to a fuel cell system and an electronic equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, a fuel cell has been applied to vehicles, portable equipment and the like as a clean power supply with high energy conversion efficiency. The fuel cell is to allow a fuel to electrochemically react with oxygen for directly extracting electric energy from chemical energy.
As a starting fuel used for the fuel cell, for example, hydrogen is applied, and there is a problem in handling hydrogen because simple substance of hydrogen is gas at normal temperature and normal pressure. Although there has been an attempt to store hydrogen with a hydrogen absorbing alloy, the storage amount of hydrogen per unit volume has been small and insufficient especially as a fuel storage unit for a power supply of compact electronic equipment such as portable electronic equipment. On the other hand, a system which employs a liquid fuel having hydrogen atoms such as alcohols as a starting fuel, generates a reformed gas containing hydrogen gas by reforming the liquid fuel, and feeds the hydrogen into the fuel cell has been developed.
The system may comprise, mainly, a “reformer” for bringing the liquid fuel into reforming reaction and “carbon monoxide remover” for removing a by-product (carbon monoxide) produced by the reforming reaction (e.g., see JP 2002-356310A).
However, in the above reactor, the proper operation temperature range of the carbon monoxide remover is lower than the proper operation temperature range of the hydrogen reformer, and temperature environments for proper operation are different between the reformer and the carbon monoxide remover. In order to heat the reformer and the carbon monoxide remover to the appropriate temperature, respectively, it is conceivable that, for example, a lead wire is connected to an electric resistance heating element and electric power is supplied from the outside through the lead wire. However, the heat generated in the electric resistance heating element leaks to outside in not a small amount and heat loss is caused.
A purpose of the present invention is to provide a reactor having a part in which reaction occurs at high temperature and a part in which reaction occurs at low temperature and capable of suppressing heat leakage to the outside, and to provide a fuel cell system and an electronic equipment comprising the reactor.